Russia’s Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, was back in Israel this week meeting with Delek Group executives to ‘examine possible cooperation’ in producing and delivering natural gas to Europe from Israel’s newly discovered massive gas fields in the Mediterranean.

According to a Globes Business report, “Gazprom’s aims are still unclear. The major concern in Israel’s gas exploration sector is that the Russian energy company wants to block possible gas exports to Europe. Even if Israel’s Leviathan is a relatively minor player in the European gas market compared with the Russian giant, the prices agreed upon and types of contracts signed by Israeli companies could create unwelcome precedents from Gazprom’s point of view.”

The report goes on to say that Gazprom is the world’s largest natural gas producer and, unlike other multi-national energy companies, has no concerns over Arab boycott threats.

For more than three years, OilinIsrael.net has been reporting on Gazprom’s attempts to participate in and plans to control the Mediterranean and European gas markets (see “Russia Tried to Buy in to Israel’s Gas Discovery”). Gazprom isn’t merely the world’s largest natural gas supplier, it is a company controlled by the Russian government. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was Gazprom’s CEO before taking his current position as head of state.

The prophet Ezekiel wrote: “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, Gog (Russia), chief prince of Meshek and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army …’” (Ezekiel 38:3-4)

“On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people (Israel) —all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.” (Ezekiel 38:10-12)

The Bible prophesies that, one day, God will ‘put a hook’ in Russia’s jaw to draw it down into Israel, where it will plan to ‘plunder and loot’ an ‘unsuspecting people’. Are Israel’s newly discovered natural gas fields and, eventually, it’s oil the ‘hook’ that draws Russia into Israel? That may be.

But if it’s so, Russia had better take warning in Ezekiel’s prophecy:

“This is what will happen in that day: When Gog (Russia) attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’” (Ezekiel 38:18-23)

If there is an “evil scheme” brewing in the mind of Gog, I would advise Gazprom, and Russia’s President, Mr. Medvedev of the one lesson that continues to repeat itself throughout history: Don’t mess with Israel.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that they don’t plan to export natural gas to Israel via a new pipeline to Turkey.

“There is no such thing on our agenda,” Erdogan said at a news conference with Putin in Istanbul when asked about the gas.

Russia has held talks on shipping fuel to Israel from a pipeline under the Black Sea. OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, is negotiating supplying the fuel, Gazprom chairman Viktor Zubkov said on March 22.

Israel may not need the extra gas, which could be transported to Syria or Lebanon instead via the planned Blue Stream-2 pipe, Putin said.

“The Blue Stream gas may not go to Israel because of economic considerations,” Putin said. “I don’t think Israel needs the gas because they found a reserve recently.”

Turkey has said it’s considering paring economic and military ties with Israel and has recalled its ambassador to the country after nine Turks were killed on an aid flotilla headed
for Gaza and intercepted by Israeli commandos last week.

Gazprom, Haaretz adds, expressed interest in the past in working as the operator in several Israeli oil and gas fields. Work in Israel could include gas transits from Turkey, the report added.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in February, however, said his country was losing interest in Russian gas because of offshore developments closer to home.

“We discovered very large deposits of gas on the shore of the sea close to Israel, very large,” he said. “So, whereas we had a very clear interest before in getting Russian gas, right now we are less enthusiastic because we simply found gas.”

A U.S.-Israeli team announced recently it discovered more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deposits about 55 miles off the coast of Haifa.

New Gazprom Headquarters in St. Petersburg will be the tallest building in Europe.

New’s of Russia’s interest in partnering in Israel’s Tamar-1 gas field came out in court this week.

“Gazprom has been trying to enter the Israeli energy market for years. Missing out on the Tamar prospect is a major loss, because the gas discovery at the prospect would have enabled the company to become a major supplier to Israel and other countries in the Mediterranean Basin.

The Tamar discovery also puts an end to possible Israeli gas imports from Russia via Turkey via the proposed undersea infrastructure conduit, which would have cost $2-3 billion to build.

Ezekiel 38 speaks of God putting “hooks” in the jaws of Gog (Russia), drawing it down into Israel. Very interesting that Russia is already at work to secure the Mediterranean energy market. Could this be the beginning? We’ll stay on top of this story.

London’s Financial Times reported on the International Energy Agency’s “World Energy Outlook”. Petroleum output, according to the agency, is declining. At the same time the world’s demand is increasing. Currently world oil output just meets oil demand. The world won’t feel this energy crunch in the short term due to slowed demand as a result of the current economic crisis. But when demand picks up again oil demand will continue to increase as oil production continues to decrease. Without more investment in oil exploration and opening of new fields supply will fail to meet demand and crude oil prices will once again skyrocket and shortages will become a reality. Israel having a domestic oil supply on line by the time by the time a world economic resurgence hits will have a tremendous impact on the nation’s financial and political future. Now, while world markets are down, is the time for Israel to increase oil and gas exploration and secure its energy future.

Here’s the Financial Times excerpt:

“The FT reports output from the world’s oilfields is declining faster than previously thought, the first authoritative public study of the biggest fields shows. Without extra investment to raise production, the natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1%, the International Energy Agency says in its annual report, the World Energy Outlook, a draft of which has been obtained by the Financial Times. The findings suggest the world will struggle to produce enough oil to make up for steep declines in existing fields, such as those in the North Sea, Russia and Alaska, and meet long-term de­mand. The effort will become even more acute as prices fall and investment decisions are delayed. The IEA, the oil watchdog, forecasts that China, India and other developing countries’ demand will require investments of $360bn each year until 2030. The agency says even with investment, the annual rate of output decline is 6.4 per cent. The decline will not necessarily be felt in the next few years because demand is slowing down, but with the expected slowdown in investment the eventual effect will be magnified, oil executives say”

Other than the economic downturn most of the world is grappling with due to the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis, no other topic has been more center stage lately than the energy crisis. Painful fill-ups at the pumps emptying wallets, food shortages ravaging the third world as corn is converted into ethanol, inflation rising as transportation costs are passed onto consumers, and the devaluation of the dollar as the U.S. government mass-prints money to keep up in competitive buying of fuel — all these and many more troubles have befallen the world over the amount of available oil.

“Black Gold,” “Texas Tea,” “Liquid Dinosaur” — the readiness of this substance is the source of troubles in modern world politics. It will also be a huge motivator in the prophetic scenes of Israel overcoming their Arab neighbors (Psalm 83), Russia and Iran trying and failing to seize the Middle East oil fields (Ezekiel 38,39), and the Antichrist’s struggle against Israel to control the Middle East to establish his Revived Roman Empire (Daniel 2,7).

While the world goes ga-ga over oil, Israel instead has been leading the way in becoming energy independent. With no known oil of their own, Israel knows that currently they are totally dependent on the millions of hostile Arabs intent on destroying them. If it wasn’t for God and the greed of OPEC being greater than their Islamic conviction to utterly remove Israel from the face of the earth, Israel would have been reduced to an agrarian society and destroyed by now.

Companies like Zion Oil and Gas, Inc., via The Joseph Project have been vigorously drilling for that questionable Israeli oil, believing the Bible supports that Israel is sitting on trillions of dollars underground. They base their search on Genesis 49:25-26; Deuteronomy 32:24; Deuteronomy 33:24; and Job 29:6. These verses speak of “blessings of the deep that lies below” and “oil from the flinty crag” and “let him bathe his feet in oil” and “the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.”

Whether oil is under Israel or not, where Israel’s true search for energy independence lies is in its brilliant innovations in alternative energy sources like solar and battery power. Israeli scientists have released revolutionary second generation solar cells that are light years ahead of current installs. Israel is also looking to be the first country by 2020 to have eliminated all gas-powered cars with battery-powered cars. Because of Israel’s small size, driving distances are well within the current 124 mile battery limit. Israel is motivated to be totally energy independent because it knows it is in a race to survive.

The United States and EU, instead of selling out Israel to appease oil-rich Arab countries to keep the supply of oil running, should instead be partnering with Israel in their breakthrough advancements in energy. The United States could indeed be not just energy independent by following Israel’s lead and partnering with them, but also become major suppliers of energy to the world and eliminate the woefully unbalanced trade deficit.

Unfortunately, as end-time players are nearly ready to fulfill their prophetic roles and fall all over themselves to get Middle East oil, the day the world is free of oil tyranny with energy independence may well have to wait till Jesus is on the throne during His Millennial Kingdom. Pity our short-sightedness and greed.